To Be the Good Guy
by Legendgrass
Summary: As Huntara leads the Best Friend Squad across the Crimson Waste, Adora realizes she could use something to take her mind off of — well, everything. What better way to do that than embarrass herself in front of a super hot desert warrior babe? Or, Adora and Huntara go on a date. (Adora/Huntara). For Anonnim.


Adora was on watch.

She sat on an upthrust boulder at the edge of their little camp: a cluster of borrowed bedrolls tucked into an alcove in the face of a cliff. They had built a fire at the mouth of the alcove, and it now warmed Bow and Glimmer's sleeping forms and cast flickering light over Huntara and Adora's faces. Adora was half-turned so that she could both keep an eye on the world outside their cozy ring of firelight and keep watch over her friends.

Not that she actually needed to do the latter, since Huntara was seated by the fire, in a much better position to do so than she. The warrior woman's eyes were focused on the blade of her weapon, which lay across her lap as she sharpened its many edges, but Adora could see that her pointed ears were alert for any hint of danger.

She could also see that the orange glow of the fire really favored the bold planes of Huntara's face, making her look like an illustration out of one of those fairytale books back at Bright Moon. Her eyes, too, caught the light and threw it back as if they were burning from within, as formidable as any wildfire. And her hands were impossibly deft with the whetstone she was using to hone her weapon—just as skillful as they were with wielding a sword or smashing skulls in or—

All right. So maybe Adora wasn't doing a great job of actually _watching _anything except Huntara. But could anyone blame her?

Ever since Huntara had turned on her own goons to rescue the Best Friend Squad, Adora had looked at the burly desert warrior a bit differently. Not that she wasn't already pretty starstruck before that. I mean, why wouldn't she be? Just look at those freaking abs! Huntara was _the _Sexy Badass paragon.

Suddenly hit by a rush of shame, Adora looked away, back out to the night-shrouded landscape of the Crimson Waste, like she was supposed to be doing. She sighed. She was sick of this feeling; sick of her own mind trapping her in cycles of guilt and irritation and longing and hope, back to guilt.

Adora wouldn't have minded facing the fact of her massive crush on this woman had her situation been just a little bit different. After all, Adora wasn't a coward.

No. The only thing that was giving her pause—other than Huntara being extremely intimidating and still perhaps not one hundred percent trustworthy—was that, well…Adora couldn't stop thinking about Catra.

She couldn't stop even as she cast frequent looks over her shoulder to admire the hard-bitten beauty by the fire, and even as hundreds of miles and hundreds of insurmountable odds now separated her and her old friend. It _frustrated _her. It wasn't like she and Catra had ever been a _thing_, and yet…now that she knew what she'd left behind, Adora wished that they had.

She furiously tried to push those thoughts out of her head. Catra was out of her reach; Catra was her enemy now and she would never forgive her, much less be willing to…I don't know, _date _her. Adora told herself that her heart didn't shrink into a miserable little lump at that realization.

Adora's gaze drifted back to Huntara of its own accord.

What she needed was a distraction. And there really wasn't much more distracting right now than Huntara's imposing presence nearby, which Adora was currently being floored by again—had she mentioned those _abs?_ So maybe, Adora decided, maybe she could do something to fill that void that had plagued her for the past several months. Maybe it would be a good thing for her to spend time with someone else. Maybe it would help her move on.

Again, Adora sighed heavily to herself. She didn't want Huntara to be _just _a distraction to her—the buff woman deserved a fair chance of her own, without any ulterior motives.

But she wasn't really _using _her, Adora thought, she was just—playing with the hand she'd been dealt. There was no harm in that, was there? Plus it wasn't like Adora _wasn't _attracted to her. This was just killing two birds with one stone. Distracting herself _and _getting a hot date. Right?

She didn't get any more chance to think about it, because Huntara looked up right then and caught Adora staring at her (probably not for the first time, but Adora had been so deep in her own thoughts she couldn't say for sure), and suddenly Adora had to either abandon this whole notion or fess up quick.

Like she'd said. She'd never been a coward.

So Adora gathered all her constitution in one fell swoop and hopped out of her seat before it could slip through her fingers, and she headed for Huntara. She tried to look casual as she went, letting her gaze drift around as if she weren't actually making a beeline for the big purple woman (which she was). She tried to ball her fists to look tough and not like her stomach was doing flips (which it was) while also not looking outright belligerent. She tried to saunter just a bit (_saunter_, that was what Glimmer had instructed her to do once, while practicing for Princess Prom—it was supposed to be attractive) to give that little touch of flirtiness that she thought this situation called for (which it didn't).

In the end she just looked a bit like someone who'd had too much to drink, or maybe really had to go to the bathroom, but she refused to let herself get embarrassed.

Maybe it would have worked, too, if she weren't already there.

Huntara had looked up as she approached and now fixed her with a look somewhere between confused, concerned and annoyed. Adora came to find that those black eyes reflecting the firelight were a lot less enthralling and a lot more intimidating when they were aimed at her. "What's the matter, Blondie?" Huntara asked in her grating contralto. "Got to go to the bathroom?"

"Uh, hehe," Adora stammered out a nervous laugh and tried not to grimace. "No, actually. I, uh," She had to look away from those piercing black orbs to gather even a semblance of coherent thought. "I wanted to ask. You. I wanted to ask you if, uh. If—" She rocked on the balls of her feet and clasped her hands together like a flustered ten-year-old boy facing his first crush and she _hated _herself. She forced her eyes back to Huntara's. "Want to, uh, go for a walk?"

So, wow, that was more painful than her old squad commander pulling her baby teeth with pliers so that they wouldn't get knocked out during training. Which hurt a lot.

Huntara snorted. "A walk?" she echoed incredulously. "Don't you know wandering around in this place is as good as a death sentence? Where's all that survival training you were telling me about?"

"No, I know!" Adora amended, waving her hands in front of her quickly. "I didn't mean _wander, _per se, more like—stroll. Together." Her eyes widened in earnest. "But, super purposefully, of course, 'cause, you know—"

Huntara cut her off by throwing her head back and letting out an absolute guffaw. It was a miracle the noise didn't wake Bow and Glimmer. Adora stood there stunned, brow twitching, while Huntara laughed long and hard and then wiped a tear of mirth from her eye. Then the warrior dropped her arms into her lap and looked at her head-on. "Blondie, are you asking me out?" she questioned, barely holding in a grin.

"_No,_" came out as Adora's immediate reaction, for some reason. Maybe years of denying that she and Catra had been snuggling in her bunk (which they had) had made her jumpy. _Don't think about that._ Adora refocused. "Pfft. What makes you say that? I was simply…_suggesting_ a mutually beneficial activity that might also, you know, provide time for…bonding, and…stuff," she explained in perhaps the weakest argument of her entire life. When she stopped and saw that Huntara was not convinced in the slightest, Adora deflated. "Yes. I am asking you out," she mumbled out in a rush.

To her relief and slight surprise, Huntara didn't laugh at her again. Adora raised her eyes from the ground just enough to gauge the warrior's reaction and found that she looked almost pensive. "Huh," Huntara grunted, her lips pursed and one fang sticking out. "Can't say I'm used to being on the receiving end of this kind of thing."

Adora was afraid that might be a bad thing. "If you don't want to that's perfectly fine!" she supplied, to spare Huntara the awkwardness of having to turn her down.

Huntara raised an eyebrow and smirked. What did _that _mean? "You know I'm old enough to be your mother, right?" she drawled, catching Adora _very _off guard.

The blonde balked. "I—well—that's not—" she began to stutter, only to realize that she had no idea how to answer that. "I mean, I guess I didn't—"

Huntara barked a short laugh. "Don't sweat it, Blondie, I'm just messing with you," she consoled, waving her off.

Adora wasn't altogether persuaded of that, so she burst out against all better judgment, "I just think you're really amazing and inspiring and—and _strong_, haha, and pretty but in like a scary way but still pretty?" She strained a smile, to lessen the blow of the awkwardness. "That's all."

Huntara stared at her for a moment that was way too long to be comfortable and Adora felt frozen beneath the pressure. _What am I _doing_? _she hissed mentally to herself. _Why are you such a screwup at communicating? _Every time she tried to reach out to someone she ended up making a fool of herself, or, worse but more likely, getting rejected. Why should this time be any different? Adora felt her shoulders lose some of their tension and droop. _Ugh._

It would be fine. After all, she was used to getting turned down. Being enemies with Catra had given her plenty of experience with that.

That thought made her even more depressed, and Adora was about to give up and slouch on back to her place on 'watch' when Huntara broke the silence.

"Wow, you sure know how to lay on the charm, huh?" she said appraisingly, tilting her head up to look at Adora down her nose. Adora had no idea how Huntara managed to seem taller than her even while she was sitting. She also had no idea how to answer that observation, but luckily Huntara saved her the trouble by breaking into a smile that showed off her sharp lower fangs and declaring, "I like that."

_Oh._

So now Adora was blushing _way _harder than before. Huntara spared her her dignity by choosing to look down and adjust her wrist wraps instead of staring, although a smirk stayed on her lips. "So what did you have in mind?" she asked without looking up.

"Oh. Uh, heh-heh," Adora responded eloquently. Honestly she hadn't expected to get this far. She rubbed the back of her neck with one hand, floundering. "I, uh really didn't have a particular place in mind," she admitted. "I just, uh…I figured you would know better than I do."

"Well, you're right about that," Huntara said proudly. She pocketed her whetstone, retracted the blade of her weapon and began to stand. "I know a spot not far from here that ought to tickle your fancy, Bright Mooner." She turned to look down at Adora, and while the blonde tried to gather her brain cells in the wake of that particular word choice, she added gravely, "On one condition."

Adora pressed her lips together in apprehension. What was this about? "Yeah, anything," she promised tentatively. _Maybe I should stop doing that,_ she thought dully. It only ever got her in trouble.

"We do _not _talk about our time in the Horde."

"Deal," Adora answered, feeling her shoulders loosen in relief that _this _was a promise she could keep. Then she looked away, remarking absently, "Not like that's something I'm dying to relive either."

Huntara noticed the shadow that came over her eyes; the one that settled in whenever she thought about her past or the Horde or Catra or any combination of the three. "Hey." The warrior caught her attention with a hand on her shoulder. When Adora raised her head, she looked very young and very unsure. Dwelling on the negative usually did that to her. "You turned out okay, Blondie. That's all that matters," the big woman assured with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

Adora let out a small, sardonic chuckle. Both of them knew that that _wasn't _all that mattered, but they were both fighting the same demons. They both knew how to fool themselves into thinking the Horde hadn't ruined their lives. They were both survivors.

A new appreciation for this big, scary woman bloomed in Adora's heart, and she looked up at her, smiling for real this time. "Thanks," she said honestly. Then she ventured to bump Huntara's shoulder with her own, like she would have once done to comfort Catra. "So did you."

Huntara's flash of surprise at the gesture dissolved into another hearty laugh. "Nah, sweetheart," she dismissed modestly. "I might have helped you all out once, but I'm no angel." Then her eyelids lowered and her grin turned sly. "Even though I might look like one."

Adora felt her face burn and she couldn't tell if she was going pale or very, very red. Was Huntara _flexing? _Of course Adora knew the woman was being facetious, but it wasn't _that _much of a stretch to call her looks angelic. If angels were absolutely ripped and had fangs and tough purple skin. _Well, who's to say they don't?_

Adora cleared her throat to jerk herself out of that train of thought. She began to edge toward the alcove where the others were asleep, explaining in a voice that was a _little _too shrill for her liking, "Well, I better tell Bow we're going so that there's someone to keep watch while—"

"Don't worry about it," Huntara interjected offhandedly. "I only pick the best-hidden, most defensible spots in this miserable desert to set up camp. Your friends will be fine." She looked around their little camp again, which _was _quite well-hidden and defensible, and placed her fists on her hips in self-satisfaction.

Although she certainly trusted Huntara's wilderness survival skills, Adora was always anxious to leave her friends alone. She felt torn between her two options, and the level look Huntara was maintaining on her felt like too much pressure. She glanced back at her friends. She supposed they would be fine if Adora didn't step away for _too _long, right? "Well…I guess we will only be gone for a minute," she reasoned to herself aloud.

"If you say so," Huntara said smoothly, and Adora legitimately gulped at the implications of that tease. Then the warrior attached her weapon to the back of her belt and turned away from the fire, beckoning Adora with a jerk of her chin. "Come on, it's this way." Without waiting for the blonde to catch up, she headed out of the ring of firelight into the bluish darkness of the night, her steps as sure on the sand as Adora would be on any stable surface—surer, actually, since Adora could be a bit of a klutz sometimes.

Adora glanced indecisively between her retreating back and her friends' sleeping bodies a few more times, and then finally opted to sketch a quick note and leave it between Bow and Glimmer's bedrolls in case they woke up while she was gone.

_Be back soon, _it said, _and don't worry, I'm fine. -Adora_

Because last time Bow wrote a note like that things turned out so well. _Whatever_, she thought. She didn't have time to compose an essay. She folded the note and laid it in the sand between them, in full view, just in case.

Feeling much better, Adora straightened up and bounded after Huntara, readjusting her sword on her back. The weight gave her a sense of security, especially since, after all, wandering around out here would be a death sentence. She smirked at Huntara's back at that thought. _Yeah, I can be capable too sometimes._

Pretty soon, Adora had to devote all of her focus to keeping her footing on the shifting dark sand and avoiding nasty-looking plants and critters, which was fine except that meant she didn't get to admire Huntara from behind anymore.

The warrior woman led her up a steadily inclining grade that curved up and around a sheer cliff face. Adora kept her eyes on her feet, because looking too closely at her surroundings reminded her of the cliff above Bright Moon where…

Well, where she'd gotten her scars. Or what _should _have been scars, except She-Ra took all those with her when she faded back into Adora.

Which didn't explain why Adora could still feel them burning against her skin sometimes.

_Don't think about that, _Adora told herself for the umpteenth time that night. _Focus on the climb._ That became easier to do as the path got steeper and the work got harder. Adora was fit, but even her thighs began to ache under the continuous demand. She tried to keep her breathing even and quiet, so that Huntara couldn't tell she was struggling in the slightest, but it was a challenge. _Capable, _she reminded herself. _I'm capable too._ She spared a glance up the path and sighed in relief. Almost there.

The peak of the incline led around a final bend and ended in a flat span of rock which must have been the top of the cliff they'd circled. Once Adora reached level ground, she took a second to rest her palms on her knees and catch her breath—once she'd made sure Huntara's back was turned. The warrior woman wasn't even winded. No wonder she was so buff! This landscape was brutal even when it _wasn't _actively trying to kill you.

"Over here," said the impressively fit gangster, leading Adora over toward an outcropping of rock near the edge of the cliff. For a moment Adora got a flash of apprehension, seeing just how close the little protrusion was from the precipice, but she shrugged it off. Huntara was her friend. Nothing bad was going to happen while she was around.

_That's what you thought last time._

_Don't think about that._

Adora accompanied her to the upthrust rock and stood watching while Huntara sat down and rested her back against it with a sigh. Maybe the climb had strained her just a little more than she'd let on, Adora dared think with a flicker of smug hope. In any case, the rock was at just the right angle to let Huntara comfortably recline against it, face tilted to the starless sky, and there was just enough room to let Adora settle beside her. When the warrior glanced over and then patted that vacant space beside her, Adora obliged her gladly.

It felt much better to be sitting, her tired legs decided. Adora let out a sigh of her own as her back came to lean against the rock and she was able to stretch out her legs before her. "Quite the climb," she remarked, if only to break the silence, rubbing the soreness out of her thighs with both hands.

Huntara grunted her acknowledgement. "Worth the view, though," she countered good-naturedly, gesturing out over the cliff edge to the landscape beyond.

"Yeah," Adora agreed with a bit of a wondering laugh as she looked out over the Waste from her bird's-eye vantage point and realized that it was, in fact, pretty beautiful. The sweeping dunes and spires that were so ominous and threatening when viewed from below looked more like calm waves from up here. The moonlight added to that effect by washing the desertscape in the blues and blacks and violets of a stormy sea, each stony crest capped in silver. Or, what Adora supposed a sea would look like, at least, since the largest body of water she'd seen was the lake at Bright Moon.

In any case, it was otherworldly and it struck a chord in Adora's heart—seeing beauty and danger juxtaposed that way was so powerful and ethereal and…and familiar.

_Don't think about that, _Adora thought sharply, _again_, and shook her head slightly. She focused deliberately on grounding herself in her senses: the view of the wild, night-cloaked wasteland, the slip of the cool breeze against her cheek, the feeling of the unyielding stone beneath her and Huntara at her shoulder. She breathed in those sensations and let them fill her so she could think of nothing else.

_This,_ she realized. This was what the draw of the Crimson Waste was all about. This was why people like Huntara came here to escape. It was a feeling like no other to have the whole world laid out in front of you, wild and dangerous or challenging and rewarding—leaving it up to you to decide. It was tempting to think of the possibilities this desert could offer, if only one knew how to seize them. It was intoxicating.

She realized for the first time the full extent of what she'd left behind in the Horde.

_The world could have been ours._

"You like it?" Huntara asked abruptly, breaking Adora out of her reverie, disguising the eagerness in her question by sounding gruff.

Adora jumped slightly, ashamed of herself for letting her mind wander down that path. She couldn't afford to allow herself that kind of speculation. She knew her destiny. Nothing else was a possibility. No matter how much she was beginning to see _just _how many possibilities there could have been.

She put on a smile and turned to Huntara. "I do," she assented, which wasn't a lie, but the smile must not have met her eyes because Huntara narrowed hers and grunted,

"Feeling antsy, Blondie?"

Adora turned away from her searching look—a hunter's analysis. "Honestly…a little," she admitted, because what was the point in hiding it if Huntara already knew?

Huntara looked uncertain for the first time since Adora had met her. "It's not me, is it?" she ventured.

"No! No, you're great," Adora was quick to reassure, spinning to face the warrior and putting her hand to the stone just next to Huntara's, not quite touching but might as well. Her eyes were earnest and pleaded for understanding as she explained, "I just…it's this place, and me thinking about things, and…and _destiny _and all." She lowered her gaze and absently rubbed her own arms. "It gets to be a lot." And even when she was on a maybe-date with a super buff, super impressive ladykiller (probably literally as well as figuratively), she couldn't keep her stupid mind off of it. Didn't she ever get a _break_?

'No,' Light Hope would say, 'this is your destiny. You do not get a break.'

Well, maybe Adora was sick of her destiny ruining everything for her. She looked back up at Huntara, hoping to high heaven that she was not angry. The warrior's face was unreadable and cast in the silver moonlight so she looked like a part of the very landscape; and she was, really. She belonged here. She ruled here. The Crimson Waste _was _her.

And she was one of the possibilities that it held, Adora thought with a furious flush, and looked away before Huntara could read her thoughts.

She could still feel the warrior's gaze on her, still scrutinizing, when she was turned away. For a long time Huntara didn't speak and Adora was left to wonder and worry over what was going on in that complicated head of hers. When she finally did say something, the words weren't what Adora had expected.

"What's it like?" Huntara asked with a note of grudging wonder in her voice, as if embarrassed to be impressed. "When you're She-Ra." Maybe it was because She-Ra had kicked her butt not too long ago. Adora bet Huntara wasn't used to getting beaten at anything, ever. She let a small smile take up residence on her face, thinking that her sheepishness was actually kind of cute.

"Probably a lot like how you feel all the time," she admitted, only partially joking (I mean, Huntara was basically just as big!) but Huntara quirked her brows in question, so she elaborated quickly, "I mean, I get super tall and strong and I can practically feel power just flowing through my body all the time." She hazarded a glance up at the warrior's face to make sure the flattery hadn't scared her off, but Huntara's smirk assuaged her fears. It also made her blush _again. _Man, this woman really _was _a good match for She-Ra—in more ways than one. Had she been this close before? Their shoulders were almost touching. Adora thought that was perfectly acceptable, although her heart was kind of trying to race out of her chest. She coughed lightly to rouse herself and went on again: "Aside from that…it's scary sometimes because it's like all that power _wants _me to use it, it _wants _to get out, and I'm afraid of what might happen if I let it." She sat back against the boulder and raised her eyes to the sky, the lack of stars speaking to exactly _what _could happen if she let it.

Huntara leaned closer, pressing, "Why wouldn't you want to let it out?"

Adora chewed her lip. She'd never spoken about this to anyone before (the princesses were the _last _people to want to hear her reservations about their heroic savior), but discussing it with Huntara was…comfortable. She seemed to want to understand. Adora felt like somehow she already did. "She-Ra doesn't always feel like…me," she struggled to explain. "Sometimes it's like I take a back-row seat and I'm watching my body be controlled by—by the _essence_ of She-Ra or something, but I'm not _out _of my body, I'm just…in a smaller part of it? I don't know." She whined, pressing her hands to her temples anxiously. "It's hard to explain."

"I get it," assured Huntara simply, and once again Adora got the feeling that she really did. "Not that I know what it's like to channel the spirit of a legendary space goddess, exactly, but I know how easy it is for power to…to make you someone you're not." Her voice went sober quickly, and she too turned to stare up at the sky. It seemed only natural—the sky represented the vast expanse of things unknown, out of their control, and existentially _frightening. _Yet it was always hanging over their heads just the same, whether they wanted to acknowledge it or not. The worst part was, it was supposed to be their protector from threats unseen, too.

"Sounds like you have some experience with it," Adora observed solemnly.

"You kidding? It's not easy being the prime gangbanger of the Crimson Waste, and not for the reasons most people think." Huntara chuckled humorlessly, and Adora wasn't quite sure what to say to that, but the big purple woman didn't seem to expect her to. She appeared lost in her own thoughts, brow slightly furrowed as she switched her gaze to the rocky landscape that was her territory and deserved to be—her claim, rendered secondhand under the sovereignty of the sky.

Adora tore her own eyes away from the haunting, starless ceiling above them and instead watched Huntara. She knew that they'd resolved not to speak of their time in the Horde, but she couldn't help but wonder what kind of a soldier Huntara had been. Probably a fearsome one, if the bulk of her muscles and set of her jaw and hardness of her eyes had anything to say about it. She wondered how high Huntara had climbed in the ranks before she deserted. She wondered what exactly had driven her to leave. Had it taken a basic slap in the face to do it, like for Adora, or had she been able to see the threads of evil and abuse even within the Horde, like…like Catra had? Who _was _this woman?

_No, _Adora willfully amended that thought, This _is who she is. _Sitting at the peak of the Crimson Waste, the whole of it in the palm of her hand, her past solidly behind her and her future stretching out before her like a Bright Moon feast, rich with possibility. She was not a victim of what had been. She had taken control of her life and now she was here. Adora aspired to be like her one day.

One day, when she was strong enough to face her demons too.

"Well, anyway," said Huntara abruptly when she'd apparently had enough of their pensive silence, glancing over at Adora, and slapped her own knees lightly, decisively. "We didn't come all the way here to moan and groan about the weight of our responsibilities, huh?" There was a sparkle in her onyx eyes that made Adora's heart jump. "How about a little swordplay to work off all this tension?"

_She really does understand me, _Adora thought, and replied eagerly, "That sounds good, actually," before she realized why the suggestion gave her a familiar rush of satisfaction and stopped. _Oh. That's why._ "I guess some things never change," Adora answered her knowing look with a crooked, regretful smile.

"You mean that nasty Horde habit of coping by hitting things? Yeah, I've noticed," Huntara laughed huskily, inspecting the scarred knuckles of her fists. She must have had quite a few issues to cope with during her Horde days, if those marks were anything to judge by. She seemed to be proud of them, though, as she flashed Adora a haughty smirk as she rose to her feet, reaching one scarred hand back down for the blonde. "All right then, Blondie," she said, a challenge in her tone, "let's see how fast a learner you really are." Once Adora was standing, Huntara paced to the flat of the rock formation and drew her blade as the princess did the same. Her smirk took on a wicked quality as she settled into a fighting stance. "Show me what you've got."

Now, _that _was something Adora could do.

The blonde squared up her stance opposite Huntara, the way she'd been trained to do since she was old enough to hold a weapon. She hefted the Sword of Protection in her hand subtly, balancing it so she would be ready to whip it in any direction in the blink of an eye, and pointed the tip at Huntara's chest. The moonlight glinted off the blade and made it look silver instead of blue. "Ready?" she asked with more than a little cockiness. After all, she _had_ beaten Huntara before.

Huntara didn't respond with anything more than a growl as she leaped forward, almost quick enough to catch Adora off guard. Almost. The princess raised her sword and Huntara's chiseled blade glanced off to one side. Adora blinked. _Right into the action, then, _she thought breathlessly.

Huntara used the momentum of the parry to bring her blade back around in a backhanded strike at Adora's legs. Adora hopped over it and plunged her knee toward Huntara's unguarded face, but Huntara jerked back in time to avoid it. She spun with the motion and struck again at Adora's head and shoulders in a series of blows that all ended on the flat of the Sword of Protection. Sparks flew from the impacts and Adora's shoulders jarred with every one, but she held fast.

She was honestly enjoying this. It had been a long time since she fought anyone without the pressures of a real battle. She had trained with the Bright Moon Queen's Guard, but none of them were a match for her with the Sword. She had run simulations with Light Hope, but those had felt more like torture than training. This, though…this was the kind of exercise that made her blood roar and her heart sing. This made her feel like a true, whole, remarkable force to be reckoned with. This made her feel like she was strong—_without _She-Ra.

And to be feeling it opposite Huntara…well, that made it even more exciting. The other warrior matched her blow for blow, her familiar Horde forms made foreign by her own Crimson Waste-style customization. It was an odd mix for Adora to adapt to, but a welcome challenge. And, not _all _of it was unfamiliar. Dirty moves weren't totally unheard of in the Horde. Not when Catra was around.

Adora went on the offensive, channeling all the feeling brought on by that thought into her moves. Huntara's eyes flashed as she caught each strike, and Adora could see a smile still flickering at her lips. It made her insides lurch.

"What's so funny?" she gasped out between massive swings of her sword.

Huntara barked a laugh. "This is a lot more—fun," She parried a slash and countered it with a quick jab that Adora barely twisted to avoid. "—when we're not actually trying to kill each other!" She hopped back out of range of Adora's next strike—or so she thought.

"Ha!" Adora feinted to one side and lunged to the other, intercepting Huntara as she tried to evade and crashing their blades together. The fight became a contest of strength as they pushed against one another, struggling for the upper hand through their locked blades. "No surprise there." Adora's voice was playful even as a snarl of effort curled her lip. She met Huntara's eyes as she said it and—

Well, she probably shouldn't have.

If Adora had been a touch infatuated with the big purple warrior before, now was the moment when the full weight of a huge crush slammed into her belly, knocking the wind out of her. Huntara was just _so_—impressive! Her jaw was set so that the line of it stood out sharply, squarely, and her eyes were deep as the starless sky and her hair hung in strands of silver contrast beside them and the way they were grappling made her muscles stand out in all their glory and—

The warrior stepped abruptly to the side and threw her blade down in the same motion, so that Adora lurched off balance and nearly sprawled onto her face at the sudden lack of opposition. Huntara laughed as she staggered and Adora felt her face burn mightily, convinced that the warrior had known exactly what she was thinking. When she straightened and turned back to Huntara, the woman's arms were crossed and her guard down, her weapon sheathed.

_Was that it? _Adora thought with a touch of panic, _No! I can't end on that! _She couldn't let Huntara think that she was that easily distracted (even if she totally was). She had a gangbanger to impress!

Huntara could apparently read the slightly desperate look on her face, because she pursed her lips and placed a hand on one hip thoughtfully. "Why don't we switch things up a little?" She said after a beat. Then she held out one hand and beckoned with her fingers. "Pass me your sword. For old times' sake." A shot of trepidation burned through Adora's chest just then, and she looked at Huntara sharply, but the warrior met her eyes knowingly and assured, "Don't worry, Blondie, I'll give it back."

Adora knew she'd always been way too trusting—just look where it had gotten her last time!—but she felt like it was different with Huntara, now. She'd betrayed them once but earned that trust back. They were allies now. Friends, even. Something else, maybe. So Adora let out her breath reluctantly through her nose and flipped the sword in her hand to offer it to Huntara hilt-first. "Just…be careful with it," she felt the need to caution.

"Careful? Me?" Huntara chuckled, recklessly tossing Adora her own blade as she accepted the Sword of Protection.

Adora had just opened her mouth to protest when Huntara proceeded to flourish the blade expertly around her head, twirling it between her hands so the blade became nothing but a blue blur, bringing a metallic ring singing through the air. Adora's words died on her lips and she settled for just staring with her mouth open. _Guess there's nothing to worry about, _she thought sheepishly.

Huntara caught her staring and looked immensely pleased. She finished her sword tricks and rested the tip on the ground beneath her feet, placing her hands on the hilt and glancing down at it approvingly. "I can see why you like this thing so much," she admitted.

Adora coughed to break herself out of her daze. "We do have kind of a…unique relationship," she agreed, eyeing the weapon with mingled fondness and distress. It was a familiar kind of feeling to her now, considering the whole She-Ra aspect of her life, not to mention Catra and—

"Anyway. Let's do this," she cut herself off briskly. She then tried to drop into an impressive fighting stance and release the blade of Huntara's weapon, but she _still _had trouble finding that stupid catch, and had to glance down to search the hilt with a scowl—

"Here," Huntara interrupted her struggle, stepping forward to place her hand on the hilt overtop Adora's. Her thumb guided the blonde's to the hidden catch and pressed it and the chiseled edge of the blade shot out without a hitch. It gleamed in the moonlight, the same color of Huntara's irises.

"Whoaa-ho ho," Adora uttered, lowering her head to pretend to appreciate the craftsmanship of the blade, except it was really an attempt to cover her blush of both embarrassment and, well- Huntara's hand was so _huge _and _strong _and _warm _over hers right now. How could she _not _be flustered?

She coped with the feeling like she would any other: by beating it away through physical exertion. She looked up at Huntara with fire in her eyes and gripped the hilt of the woman's blade with white-knuckled fists. "_Now _let's do this."

Huntara's expression matched hers as she stepped back to square off against her opponent again, and a split second later their blades were colliding.

Using Huntara's blade rather than the Sword of Protection was tough to adapt to. Adora wasn't used to anything besides her magical, seemingly weightless weapon that operated like an extension of herself—or, probably more accurate, like _she _was an extension of _it. _It often seemed to move on its own faster than she would have been able to parry a dangerous strike, or slide into the tiniest gap in her enemies' defense. It was easy and natural and right in her hand.

This, however, was not. Adora was left with nothing to fall back on but her own training and instincts as Huntara came at her, the Sword flashing from her palm. The black blade in her hands seemed at first almost flimsy compared to the Sword, but it caught every blow without faltering. She knew from experience that it was stronger than it looked.

Sweat began to break out along Adora's hairline and beneath her jacket as they pushed back and forth in a deadly dance, blades meeting again and again. It was all she could do to keep air rushing into her burning lungs as she strained to keep abreast of Huntara's attacks. Her side was stinging like it hadn't since her early days in the Horde. _I'm out of practice, _she found herself thinking. _I've been relying too much on She-Ra._

It was hard to tell whether that realization was truth or just her mind being mean to her like usual, but her body sure felt pretty sure of it. If she didn't end this soon, Huntara would beat her just by attrition.

She gathered her remaining strength and poured it all behind one final attack; a massive overhead swing that she hoped would bring Huntara to her knees and leave her vulnerable to a pin. As she went for the strike, though, Huntara made an unexpected pivot and spun around to Adora's exposed back. Adora tried to change the course of her swing but was too slow to avoid the powerful kick that Huntara launched into her back. The rest of her air left her, and Adora went down.

Huntara's black sword skittered out of her hand and across the reddish stones as she hit the ground. She made a desperate dive after it, gasping for air, but again that big, strong boot pressed into her back. Adora twisted over to face her opponent, who was now towering over her. _Not again!_

Huntara replaced her boot with the tip of the Sword of Protection against Adora's chest. Her face was unmistakably pleased as she gloated, "Looks like I've got you beat."

Adora wouldn't settle for that. She had trained alongside Catra for long enough to know that no situation was impossible to squirm out of. "You wish," she countered breathlessly, and for a second it crossed her mind that she sounded just like her old friend, but she didn't even have to force that thought out of her head this time because she was back in the fight, kicking the sword away and curling into a backward roll in the same smooth motion so that she came up on her feet a safe distance from Huntara's blade, and her focus honed back in on nothing but Huntara and what move she'd launch next.

"You weren't kidding about that fast learner business," Huntara observed a little wonderingly as she reset her footing, and she even sounded a little out of breath.

Adora just met that comment with a smirk before jumping back into the fight. This time she opted to go for the finisher with finesse instead of brute force—it had worked well enough last time, after all. She launched a series of feints to throw Huntara off, then lunged in close and hooked a leg around the back of the warrior's boot to compromise her balance. The clinching strike was a backhanded hilt-whip to the woman's face, which sent her wholly to the ground. Adora took her turn to pin her opponent with her swordpoint to her chest.

"All right, all right, you win," Huntara conceded reluctantly, raising both palms, and Adora grinned and dropped her weapon from the warrior's chest. She replaced it with her hand in order to help the warrior to her feet.

Huntara grunted in thanks and began to turn away, but whirled back abruptly and knocked Adora's blade away, reversing their positions with the Sword of Protection at the blonde's sternum. "—but, let me tell you something, Blondie." Her eyes were hard as chips of desert rock and Adora felt a flicker of fear, wondering if she'd made a mistake in trusting Huntara again, but the gangster didn't press her advantage. She just said briskly, in the manner of one who's learned the hard way: "Never let your guard down in the Crimson Waste."

"I…" Adora's voice was small and weak under the pressure of Huntara's intensity. It was probably good she be reminded of how dangerous Huntara could become at the drop of a hat. She was Horde-born, after all. Adora knew what that could do to a person. She swallowed to clear her throat and nodded once. "Understood."

Huntara held her intimidating pose for a moment longer before her expression cracked into a smile, somehow still with a trace of that rocky quality. "Good." Then her eyes ran up and down Adora's form and noted the messy hairs escaped from her ponytail and the sheen of sweat on her skin. "You look a little worn out, Blondie." She smirked. "Drink?" Without waiting, and before Adora could begin to blush under her scrutiny, she turned away and shuffled back toward their spot near the cliff edge.

"Yes, please," confessed Adora with tired eagerness and followed after, trying not to appear too much like an overexcited pet. She levered herself down against the big stone where Huntara was sitting again, suppressing a groan as her legs protested. Right away, the warrior offered her a full waterskin. Adora took it gratefully and took a long swig - to her great regret. It had the consistency of loose jelly in her mouth and tasted somewhere between sweet, sour, and the bottom of Catra's feet (don't ask why she knew what those tasted like). She choked and barely avoided spilling it out of her mouth and down her front. "Augh!" she spluttered, trying to evict the remains of the taste from her tongue. "What is this?"

Hearty laughter bubbled up from Huntara's throat and filled the still night air around them. It was loud and full-throated and it was so rare it would have seemed like a gift to Adora's ears any other time—but right now, it was less than appreciated. Huntara met Adora's glare with a sharp-toothed grin. "Ghorel'lok cactus wine," she provided, reclaiming the skin from the blonde's hand before she could do anything rash—like dump it over the side of the cliff. "I call it the lifeblood of the Crimson Waste." She raised the opening to her lips and took a large helping as if it were tame as water.

Adora watched her swallow it down with a grimace and tried to suppress her continued coughing. She was not very successful. "Do you have anything that's…_not_ that?" she demanded through a sour, burning throat.

Huntara had to wipe a tear of mirth from her sparkling eye before she could manage, still chuckling, "Lightweight." However she reached around to the back of her belt and withdrew another drinking vessel, a cone that looked like it may have once been the horn of some beast. It was much smaller than the wineskin. She held it out to Adora. "Here."

Adora took this one with a healthy dose of caution and ventured a small sip before trusting the contents. Thankfully, it was just water. She tipped the horn back greedily.

She'd taken a long and probably sloppily unattractive drink and lowered the horn again before noticing Huntara was watching her the whole time. Then she balked, mumbled, "Oh," softly and raised her arm to wipe her mouth on her sleeve, thinking she must have dribbled some _freaking _cactus wine there in her fit of disgust, but Huntara reached out and stopped her.

"It's not that," the warrior assured her with what Adora swore was a hint of gentleness. "I was just thinking." She bit her lip and the little betrayal of her usual stoic demeanor was heartwarming. Her onyx eyes slid out to scan over the Crimson Waste below, avoiding Adora's. "Maybe it's not so bad to be the good guy."

"You're right," Adora agreed, the brightest smile in a while spreading over her face. It felt inexplicably good to have someone who understood the things she had gone through. It was freeing, healing, saving to be able to lead someone down the same path to redemption she'd taken. It was amazing to have someone see things the same way she did. It was even better, though, to see the wondering relief that lay behind Huntara's eyes at the same realization. Adora thought she'd never looked more beautiful than in that moment, and so she risked saying softly, "It looks good on you."

Huntara made a dismissive noise in her throat, but Adora looked across at her and definitely, positively saw her blush deeply. Her cheeks turned a darker shade of purple and the sight made Adora grin in giddy satisfaction. She hadn't even thought Huntara was _able_ to blush.

Heartened by that little victory, Adora scooted closer and reached out for the wineskin in Huntara's hand. "Let me try some of that stuff again," she said. She was determined to impress Huntara every way she could tonight. Things were going well so far, so why not try a little step further?

She _probably _wouldn't vomit the vile stuff up in Huntara's lap and ruin any chance she had with her forever.

Huntara's eyebrows shot up. "Oh, you're a glutton for punishment, are you?" she teased, but passed the skin over anyway.

So maybe she was. That could be useful, sometimes. Like when she was trying to impress a super hot desert warrior babe with her rock-hard constitution.

Either way, it was too late for her to back out now. So Adora took the wineskin and raised it to her lips (_Huntara just put her mouth on this too. That means we, like—_) and before she could have any second thoughts, she threw her head back and drank.

It was not any better the second time. If anything, it was worse. She was expecting the foul flavor and the repulsive consistency and still it burned her sinuses and activated her gag reflex. She barely got the sweet-sour abomination down without choking again.

But she did. And she managed to keep her face mostly composed the whole time and wiped her mouth with an offhanded sort of motion afterward. The only thing she couldn't suppress was the shiver of disgust that rippled down her spine as the aftertaste lingered.

It affected Huntara just the way she'd hoped. "Not bad, Blondie," the gangster complimented, looking truly taken aback, and Adora's heart soared. Maybe sometimes being a glutton for punishment paid off after all. She gave the warrior a toothy smile as she gave the wineskin back.

Huntara's eyes were glowing with fondness as she took her own draw of the nasty stuff and then put the skin aside. Afterward she settled back against the rock with a sigh, face tilted to the sky again. Her shoulder was so close that if Adora leaned back too, she'd be pressed up against it. She wondered if Huntara would be all right with that. She wondered if that was actually what she was _offering _by sitting so close, but Adora had been too thick to realize it before now. She also wondered if it was just a coincidence. She watched Huntara subtly, gauging the lines of her face and the looseness of her posture to try and puzzle out what her next step should be.

Then Huntara's eyes flicked to hers. They didn't look surprised to find her staring. In fact, they were gentle, like they could tell exactly what Adora was thinking and sought to reassure her. Her lips lifted in a slight smile. It was nothing short of an invitation.

Adora gladly accepted. She smiled, too, as she felt the tension drain out of her and she rearranged herself with her back against the rock, leaning back toward the open dome of the nightscape above them. She let her shoulder touch Huntara's.

For a while they just half-lay there, side by side, watching the snail's pace of the moons as they drifted through their nightly paths, colors impossibly bright. Adora let her mind shut down and unhitch from the usual stresses that assailed her night and day: She-Ra, Light Hope, Bright Moon, the war, Catra. She let the sky and the night air and the warmth of Huntara become her whole world. She felt her breathing go trancelike and her sore muscles relax. She hadn't been this at peace in a long time.

She didn't realize the moment she came to rest her head on Huntara's shoulder. The warrior didn't seem to mind, though. She was quiet, pensive, peaceful as well.

"Thanks for coming up here with me," Huntara said at length, gruffly, like she was trying to make up for the softness she was currently allowing.

"Mhmm," Adora conceded happily. She would have said more, except she was inches from exhaustion after hours on watch, their trek up here, of course their sparring session, and her eyelids were drooping in the stillness of the night. Normally that would have concerned her; falling asleep in an unknown land that was proven to try to kill visitors at every turn. Not now, though. Not when she had Huntara beside her, watching over her. Not when she could feel the power of the warrior's muscles lying dormant beneath her head. Not when she had a companion again.

"Thanks for everything, actually," Huntara added, low and gravelly enough that Adora barely heard. But she did hear, and she felt a kind of warmth flood through her that she hadn't experienced in…well, a while.

That warmth stayed with her as she began to drift off into a comfortable sleep, lulled by the rhythm of Huntara's breathing against her. She wouldn't have ever expected to be dozing off on a cliff of the Crimson Waste, kept company by a cutthroat criminal with a sword of black stone and eyes to match, but she was glad for the pleasant surprise. She was glad that, one way or another, things had brought her to where she was tonight. She was glad she'd taken the risk. She was glad that even in the midst of so many things going wrong, something could still be right.

Because this really did seem right.

Especially when, just as she'd almost slipped under, she felt Huntara's shoulder shift beneath her and then, so light she almost missed it, the press of rough lips against her cheek.

"'Night, Blondie," the warrior's voice rumbled softly.

Adora fell asleep smiling.

* * *

A/N: Disclaimer: #NotMyShip, but I tried anyway


End file.
